Crystal Brister is on a mission to get pornographic websites out of public libraries after her own awful experience. (credit: CBS 2)

Crystal Brister is on a mission to get pornographic websites out of public libraries after her own awful experience. (credit: CBS 2)

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) — A New York nanny is on a mission to protect children from seeing pornography at the library after her own awful experience.

Crystal Brister loves reading to the children she takes care of, but three weeks ago at the Brooklyn Public Library in Clinton Hill, she couldn’t believe it when she saw a man watching pornography on a library computer.

“The first thing I see is a full-blown porno playing and I’m like ‘That can’t be right, that can’t be right,'” Brister told CBS 2’s Cindy Hsu.

She complained to library employees, but couldn’t believe what they told her. Brister claims they said “It’s a public library so we can’t do anything.”

“I was like ‘are you kidding me?'” she said.

It turns out adults are protected, under the First Amendment, to watch legal pornography at public libraries. So the only thing off-limits is child porn.

The Brooklyn Public Library released a statement, saying “all of our public computers block illegal material.”

The computers that are supposed to be used by minors near the kids section have more safeguards and block out porn.

The library said “We also use filtering technology which provides a level of protection against pornography and other sites that are not appropriate for children.”

The computers in the adult section also have privacy screens, which are supposed to block out images unless you’re sitting directly in front of the computer, but Brister said she could easily see the porn from several feet away.

So now she’s started a petition online and off to get things changed and to inform the public.

While she’d like to get pornographic websites out of the library all together, she said if she can’t do that, getting the adult computers farther away from the children’s section would be a start.

Brister said when she gets 1,000 signatures. She’ll deliver the petition to the head of the library.

Do you think people should be allowed to watch legal pornography at public libraries? Share your thoughts in the comments section below…